THE LATE MR JOHN HAYHURST.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2230, 21 July 1891, Page 2

THE LATE MR JOHN HAYHURST.

On last Saturday both the Christchurch papers announced that the Colonial Secretary had ordered the exhumation of the body of the late Mr John Hayhurst, with the view of holding an inquest thereon. For the last twelve months this matter has been undergoing development, and has been the talk of the district, but out of respect for the feelings of those immediately concerned we have never noticed it. We knew, of course, that the exhumation had been ordered long before the Christchurch papers did, but we thought it time enough to chronicle the event as soon as it had occurred, and we now think the Christchurch papers would have shown better taste by deferring giving it publicity until the enquiry had taken place. However, it does not matter a great deal. It could not under any circumstances be kept out of the papers, and now that it has been touched upon it is impossible for us to ignore it any longer.HIS EARLY LIFE.

The late Mr Hayhurst was born on a farm in the neighborhood of Manchester in 1827, and early in life came to New South Wales, where he worked for a time, until he was engaged to come to New Zealand in charge of some stock. He made several voyages in charge of stock between the two colonies, and at last decided to settle down in Wellington. Work getting very slack in Shat district he set sail for Lyttelton, where, shortly after his arrival, he became a contractor. We forget now the details of his first contract in Lyttelton, although we have heard them told by his own lips. It was, however, work embracing some engineering difficulty, and Mr Hayhurst saw, with that clearsightedness so characteristic of him that it was muddled. Seeing where an advantage was to be gained, he offered to do the work,at a certain price; he obtained it, and soon he opened the eyes of those who had muddled it previously, with the result that he did well out of it. It did not matter what work came in his way Mr Hayhurst was equal to it, and after a time he is found managing a station at Ashburton for Sir Thomas Tailored. Here he gave entire satisfaction, and Sir Thomas desiring to visit the Old Country disposed of his station to him. As owner of the station success still attended him, and it ought to be put down to his credit that in his prosperity his first thought was of the members of his own family, including father,, mother, brothers, and sisters, whom he brought out to the colony. Some of these are still living in this district, and some are buried in the Temuka cemetery. Disposing of the Ashburton run some time afterwards he proceeded to the Mackenzie Country, where he took the Grey Hills and Simon’s Pass runs, both of which he stocked, and after enjoying a season of success he bought the magnificent Green Hayes estate, comprising over 5000 acres of probably the finest land in New Zealand. He managed the three properties simultaneously for some time, till he let a part of Green Hayes, and then bought the Bluecliffs station. This he let some time afterwards, and finding his affairs in working condition he set out on a prolonged visit to the Old Country. This, however, he was not destined to enjoy. Shortly after reaching Home he received a letter telling him his Bluecliffs tenant had turned out worthless, so he hastened back again, l and not long afterwards he disposed of all his station property and threw all his energies into the Green Hayes estate. Of this he took possession in 1861, and though farming had been scarcely begun in South Canterbury at the time, he had, two years later, a large portion of the estatate under wheat, while in the centre of it stood a mill, ready to grind the wheat into flour. This estate he managed differently from any other property of the kind in New Zealand. Instead of allowing it to remain a sheepwalk, as many would have done, he cut it up into farms, and now there are 44 tenants living on the property, whose families number in the aggregate about 220 souls. Never has one word been heard about “ bursting up ” the Green Hayes estate, and if other* owners managed their properties in a similar manner we should never have heard such words as “ confiscation,” “ spoliation,” or “ bursting up ” used in connection with them.

As a landlord Mr Hayhurst was kind and considerate. Through all the depression there was not a single bankruptcy on the estate, and his tenants appeared to be better off than the freeholders in the neighborhood. This may be explained in two ways : Sir Hayhurst was an extremely hardworking man himself; his energy was most untiring, and he had no toleration for the thriftless or the lazy. No doubt he in this way chose his tenants from the best class, and hence a great deal of their success, but, besides this, he was always a sterling friend to them, and it is well known that whenever he found one of them in difficulties he helped him through until he regained his strength. He was consequently greatly esteemed throughout the district, and well he deserved it, for many a man owes his start in life to him.

On the Green Hayes estate he built a splendid house. This was burned

down, in, we believe, 1880, rebuilt -in the following he went to live in house is now a very fine fully situated, and furnished costly style. In a stream by the house is placed a that moves the lights every room in the house tricity, and the whole-. coutrivaucaH|H so adjusted that anyone in the chief»9 bedroom can, by electric means, turn . J on of off the water which sets everything in motion. ■ Between the years 1861 and 1889 JH Mr Hayhurst paid about-eight, vi|?Uf to Eiirope and on each occasion he returned H home with some of the latest and most H improved machines. After ans}bpence 9 of about four years he returned ts' this ■ colony in November, 1886, brihgipg 9 with him a patent roller plant for his 9 flour mill, and in a short time he re- ■ moved the mill from,-Milford, to; I another part of his property ' near - 9 Temuka, where he re-erected.it, and 1 placed in it the new machinery. In >d September of the following year he* I was off again, and returned about the I middle of 1888 with more machinery I for the new mill. This he erected, P and was about to leave for Hdmeiin ( the month of March, 1889, but jriissed I the boat, and on the list of the follow- i ing April he had everything packed \ up to leave when he became suddenly | ill, and died after four or five days’ j sickness. At this time he was living jJ with his wife in a house in town, 'his -|| , son occupying Green Hayes House, and it was generally thought then that he J was settled down at last, but iit was j said that he was going Home to bring out an electric plant, and of course uo one was surprised, as it was customary : I with him to go to bring - machinery. / 9

HIS PUBLIC LIFE. ~.,.y Notwithstanding the large interests which Mr Hayhurst had to look after privately, he still had time tq>sparej for public matters, and for 'sever* ij years he sat as a member of the JtrrA vincial Council. After the abolititfl of that body he stood as a candid: ■ for the Geraldine seat in the House Representatives against Mr in 1876, with the result that oH polled exactly the same votes! Mr Belfield Woollcombe then Returning Officer, and the election by giving his casting. in favor of Mr Wakefield, and thus Mr Hayhurst was defeated. In 1881 he again stood against Messrs Wakefield and Postlethwaite, but retired fronj the contest on the last day of tUn] election. In 1887 he was approached with the view of getting him to stand for Rangitata, before Mr Buxton] announced himself,'- but having taken

several days to consider the matter]hen declined, and left for England on Jthe * day of the nomination of Mr Hayhurst, unlike most qf his class, was a Liberal in politics, and a uncompromising opponent of the tinuous Ministry. He held ver9 decided views on most subjects, andP had a vigorous and effective manner of giving expression to them. jHe was a i fluent speaker, and a strong opponent in debate, He was a member of the] Timaru and Gladstone Board- of Works—a body which in the earlier days performed functions similar to those of the present County Council—■ chairman of the Temuka Road Board, and a member of every one of the minor local bodies, including the School Committee, and if there were two sides to a question lie was sure to be in the lead on one of. them. Besides there was no local enterprise set on foot that he was not foremost in, and always ready to assist in, it. Whatever may have I een his faul|s|op failings he was a most enterprising colonist, and a thoroughly good,man for this district, and he went to -his» grave deeply regretted by’ who knew him.

RECENT EVENTS,

-8o far we- have, strictly speaking, only reproduced the obituary notice which appeared in our columns at the time of his death, and which, according to the Christchurch Press, conveyed the news of his death to England. It may be that the paper containing the obituary was sent Home, but information' was conveyed through another channel. -When Mr Hayhurst was taken suddenly ill,». a lady who had for a great many years been an intimate friend of the family, nursed him. Finding if impossible to leave by the outgoing mail-boat, as he had prepared to do, he called her to his bedside and asked her tp; write to Mrs Hayhurst, in England, telling lier that owing to a sudden fit ot“ illness he was unable to go, but that He would be with her by the next steamer, this lady was put off with some explanation as to who Mrs Hayhurst was, and the matter dropped until a letter was received in reply...front England. The writer gave the name of Hayhurst, but did not mention the relationship in which she claimed to stand to the deceased gentleman. Letters passed between Temuka and England, and other things happened which need not necessarily be referred to now, but the general public knew nothing of what was going on, until just about this time last year, people' were astonished by the news spreading that a lady, accompanied by two children, had arrived in Timaru, Who claimed to be the legal wife of the late Mr Hayhurst. The news proved true. She put up at the Queen’s Hotel, Timaru, and frequently d'roye out to Temuka, where she'interviewed!, several people, and made inquiries

with regard to the deceased gentle-; man. Of course the lady became ah object of the greatest interest. She was at once represented by the unqualified consent of all who had met or seen her as a very handsome woman, of very fascinating manners, highly, educated, an accomplished authoress, and, above all very clever. There was no end of the stories connected with her. One day her father accompanied by a famous English Queen’s counsel, had arrived to do battle for her, another day she was accompanied from England by a lawyer, and the delay was occasioned by having to wait until the Clergyman by whom she had been married, arrived to give evidence. Then events long forgotten were remembered, persons long buried began to be talked of once more, legal points were argued with great eloquence, last wills, and testaments, bequests, rights of inheritance were all canvassed, and visions of a a lawsuit which would rival the Tichbourne case were conjured up, but still nothing of a public nature occurred. The lady paid periodical visits to Temuka, the owner of Greenhayes went on improving his property, apparently quite indifferent to all, and soon the whole thing subsided. Then it was whispered that the case was settled. The lady, it was said, compromired matters in consideration of a sum of £30,000. This was not satisfactory to those who were anxiously awaiting wonderful developments, but they soon settled down to it and the whole thing ceased to form the subject of discussion. Very soon the subject -cropped up again. The people were shocked when it was whispered that efforts would be made to have the body of the late Mr Hayhurst exhumed with the view of a post mortem examination, and an inquest as to the cause of death. Pending approaching events we do not think it would be right for us to dwell at any great length on this subject, further than to say that coloring was given to it by the presence of a Wellington detective 4 in the district in last April;- Ever [, since the thing hung fire till about eight or nine days ago the movements V of tbe police indicated that the long-

threatened crisis was at hand. It was t /generally known then that exhumation n would take place, but the time for it 5 had not been finally fixed. All y arrangements for it have now been made. Mr Inspector. Pender, accompanied by the Christchurch Crown prosecutor, Mr J. C. Martin, and Dr Guthrie, a Christchurch medical practitioner, arrived in Temuka yesterday by the express train. Mr Richmond Beetham, Resident Magistrate, of ■!, Christchurch, who will act as Coroner

.at the inquest, also arrived by the same train, but Avent on to Timaru, ’ intending to return this morning. By the express from the south Dr Ogston, who it will be remembered assisted at the exhnmation of Captain Cain, and Professor Black, analyst at the Dunedin University, arrived from Dunedin, and they Avill take part in the proceedings. The post mortem examination Avill be-made by Drs Ogston and Guthrie, and Professor Black will be present to take Avith him to Dunedin v . Avhatever is necessary for analytical investigation. Dr Hayes, Avho attended the deceased, will also be present, and associrted Avith him Avill be Dr Thomas, of Timaru. It is said that Dr Lovegrove is to be present on behalf of Mrs Ethel Hayhurst; and Dr Jeffcoate, of Dunedin, on behalf of the family of the deceased. Dr Barclay, of Waimatc, will also be in attendance. The inquest will take place at the Crown Hotel, Temuka! A jury of six, comprising the folloAving, has been summoned; Messrs W. Storey, J. W. Miles, John Sim, P. Coira, C. Story, and F. Archer. Therejias been erected in the cemetery a marquee, and in this the postmortem examination will ■ take place. The grave will be opened at 8 a.m., and . the coffin taken , ..into the marquee. After the jury have vieAved the body they will adjourn to the Cro\vn Hotel Avhere the enquiry will be, formally opened, but no evidence will be taken until the result of the -analysis is obtained. If the analysis does not realise the expectations of those Avho have been instrumental in setting the machinery of the luav in 'motion the Avhole thing Avill terminate in nothing further being done. If on the contrary the inquest Avill be proceeded with, but it cannot go on under any circumstancees for another week.

Export of Potatoes. —The Honorable Mr ’ Rolleston has been urging on the Government the desirability of giving a bonus for exporting potatoes to England. A Christchurch telegram says that Messrs Stead and Cunningham have already made two considerable shipments to England, so that Mr Rolleston’s proposal has been anticipated by private enterprise. Mr Rolleston is always bound to be slightly behind the age. Holloway’s Pills and Ointment.— Rheumatism and Gout—These purifying andsqpthing remedies deserve the earnest attention of all persons liable, to gout, sciatica, or other painful affections of the muscles, nerves, or joints. The Ointment should be applied after the affected parts have been patiently fomented with warm water, when the Ointment should be diligently rubbed upon the adjacent skin, unless the friction causes pain. Holloway’s Pills should be' simultaneously taken to diminish pain, reduce inflammation, and purify the blood. This treatment abates the violence, and .lessens the frequency of gout, rheumatism, and all spasmodic diseases which spring from hereditary predisposition, or from any accidental weakness of constitution. The Ointment cheeks the local malady, while the Pills restore vital power.